The leaders and people of two provinces in the highlands that are hotspots of illegal firearms have been praised by the Prime Minister for their efforts to remove them from their communities, making them safer.

Prime Minister James Marape has commended the leaders and people of Hela and Southern Highlands provinces for taking ownership of law and order through the surrender of illegal firearms.

Marape particularly commended Southern Highlands Governor William Powi, Hela Governor Hon. Philip Undialu, Minister for Health and Disaster and Emergency Services Dr Billy Joseph, Minister for Immigration William Bando, and Vice-Minister for National Planning Daniel Tindipu for their leadership in supporting the gun surrender programme.

He said gun surrender activities taking place in Tari, Hela Province, and Nipa, Southern Highlands Province, showed leaders and communities responding positively to the National Government’s call to remove illegal firearms from communities.

“I commend the leaders of the Hela and Southern Highlands for taking the lead and responding to our call for illegal guns to be surrendered,” Prime Minister Marape said.

“I also commend our people in these areas who have heeded the call and are voluntarily surrendering their weapons.

“This is what we want to see throughout Papua New Guinea — leaders taking responsibility and our people taking ownership of law and order.”

Meanwhile, the prime minister has also announced an extension of the gun surrender amnesty to 25th December 2026 to give more time for people still holding on to illegal firearms to hand them over to the authorities.